Me and a Spanish lady (Iris) arrive in Goa after 14 hours on a semi-sleeper coach with a lunatic (normal) Indian driver weaving around, driving on the wrong side of the road, tailgating, even running people off the road (then being stopped by the police). If you're a nervous passenger, or like your sleep i recommend you don't get a coach in India. Book a train, but make sure you book everything at least a week in advance. The seats go quick. Recommended sites are cleartrip.com for trains/flights, and redbus.in for coaches. If you book via a secondary travel agency, a shop or dude on the street you can end up paying twice as much as booking direct.
We arrive into Panaji. The capital of Goa. Its Portuguese history is everywhere. Noticeably Christian after being in Mumbai. We head for the first place we can find, the Bhakra lodge. Bhakra (as i learnt not an hour ago) is Hindi for India. Not an amazing lodge (no wi-fi!) but somewhere to sleep. So after a trip to old Goa (stunning) and a beer i hit the sack. Travelling overnight sounds great on paper, you save on accommodation costs, and get to where you're going for the morning, but if you can't sleep on the journey it can be a long night.
Next day we head North via Baga beach. This beach is row after row of sizzling tourists, mostly Russian. Everyone is asking taxi, sun bed, umbrella, tuk-tuk! NO NO NO NO! You can't escape. I highly recommend you avoid. We leave the beach as quick as we'd entered it, and head further north by local bus to Anjuna. They contain no westerners, cost 10 rupees and have bags of character. I've read good things about Anjuna, and the Silver Moon hostel. The beach is mostly rocky, there are just locals, hippies, backpackers and dogs here. The café's and bars play "classic" Goa trance non-stop it seems, assuming that's what people want to listen to. The hostel is basic but clean. What can you expect for £5 a night! With that, and moped hire for £3 a day, dinner and beer for £4 a day it's seriously cheap, so i book in for 3 days.
8am. Crisp, smoky morning air on the moped ride to meet a boat. Once there we realise it's me, Iris, two extremely well-travelled Ukrainians and 3 Russians. We board the boat for a 6 hour excursion including snorkelling, fishing, dolphin spotting and a BBQ on the beach. After a 1 hour ride we fail on the fishing and snorkelling (underwater visibility was 1 metre!) but we did see some dolphins catching their breakfast. We get to the BBQ beach, which is full or Russians, and tuck into some spicy Goan fish, chicken and rice. YUM. Never have the Spanish and English been so close, defending against the onslaught of mighty Russia. To say we were a minority is a dramatic understatement.
Back off the boat and in Baga i say goodbye to Iris. She heads down to Mysore on an overnight bus. I head back to the hostel and meet Krishna Gandhi (i kid you not). A Canadian born Hindu out here to meet family. He's also catching a bus later, so we grab a quick beer and exchange email addresses then part company. I head to a beach bar for sunset, munch a Jalfrezi, sink and beer and enjoy the wi-fi.
We arrive into Panaji. The capital of Goa. Its Portuguese history is everywhere. Noticeably Christian after being in Mumbai. We head for the first place we can find, the Bhakra lodge. Bhakra (as i learnt not an hour ago) is Hindi for India. Not an amazing lodge (no wi-fi!) but somewhere to sleep. So after a trip to old Goa (stunning) and a beer i hit the sack. Travelling overnight sounds great on paper, you save on accommodation costs, and get to where you're going for the morning, but if you can't sleep on the journey it can be a long night.
Next day we head North via Baga beach. This beach is row after row of sizzling tourists, mostly Russian. Everyone is asking taxi, sun bed, umbrella, tuk-tuk! NO NO NO NO! You can't escape. I highly recommend you avoid. We leave the beach as quick as we'd entered it, and head further north by local bus to Anjuna. They contain no westerners, cost 10 rupees and have bags of character. I've read good things about Anjuna, and the Silver Moon hostel. The beach is mostly rocky, there are just locals, hippies, backpackers and dogs here. The café's and bars play "classic" Goa trance non-stop it seems, assuming that's what people want to listen to. The hostel is basic but clean. What can you expect for £5 a night! With that, and moped hire for £3 a day, dinner and beer for £4 a day it's seriously cheap, so i book in for 3 days.
8am. Crisp, smoky morning air on the moped ride to meet a boat. Once there we realise it's me, Iris, two extremely well-travelled Ukrainians and 3 Russians. We board the boat for a 6 hour excursion including snorkelling, fishing, dolphin spotting and a BBQ on the beach. After a 1 hour ride we fail on the fishing and snorkelling (underwater visibility was 1 metre!) but we did see some dolphins catching their breakfast. We get to the BBQ beach, which is full or Russians, and tuck into some spicy Goan fish, chicken and rice. YUM. Never have the Spanish and English been so close, defending against the onslaught of mighty Russia. To say we were a minority is a dramatic understatement.
Back off the boat and in Baga i say goodbye to Iris. She heads down to Mysore on an overnight bus. I head back to the hostel and meet Krishna Gandhi (i kid you not). A Canadian born Hindu out here to meet family. He's also catching a bus later, so we grab a quick beer and exchange email addresses then part company. I head to a beach bar for sunset, munch a Jalfrezi, sink and beer and enjoy the wi-fi.
Wow I read this on waking up then got your mother to come and read it. After the first read I was exhausted and after the second which was read out loud by your mother I decided it was better if I stayed in bed all day.O for the life of a Sadu!
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